


Object Oriented Confabulation

by crowind



Category: Digimon Tamers, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-04 11:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14591709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowind/pseuds/crowind
Summary: The tale of two children and their sentient AI foxes, another world, and the people lost between here and there. Instead of Konoha there is East Shinjuku, circa 2002. For the record, Kakashi didn't ask to be bonded to an irascible, ill-mannered pipe fox who claimed to come from the intertubes.





	1. two foxes walk into a bar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elenathehun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenathehun/gifts).



> A belated birthday gift to elenathehun, who requested a Naruto/Digimon Tamers Fusion AU. This turned out into an interesting exercise in distilling character essences, so it looks like there'll be more.

Friday was Obito's turn at cleaning up after class, but since he was bedridden and it was partially Kakashi's fault, it fell to Kakashi. A lot of things had been falling on Kakashi lately: steel beams, reminders of his deadbeat father – 

"But this has nothing to do with you." 

"I'm sorry?" Shizune said timidly from the front of the class, where she was cleaning the blackboard. 

"Hm?" mumbled Kakashi nonchalantly, even as he kicked his bag and its contents. It stayed silent this time. Shizune looked away first, blushing and apologising. Kakashi barely knew her – which made her just another classmate. His first impression was that of a non-nosy girl. 

Kakashi returned to sweeping the floor in peace, keeping one eye on his bag in the corner. But only for a while; then Shizune started speaking. 

"It's so nice of you to fill in for Obito-kun. You must be good friends." 

So much for not being the nosy type. "I don't like owing people." 

"O-oh. He's all right, isn't he? Namikaze-sensei said there was an accident." 

"Sure, there's always an accident everyday." Kakashi poked his bag with the broom in his hand, just in case. It stayed silent even as he could feel Shizune's frown on his back. But she didn't press, and for all of ten minutes Kakashi had blissful silence as he tended to his part. 

So then, the one time he took his eyes off his bag to dispose of the garbage was the time its occupant burst out like a demon fox from hell. It perched on an empty desk, its length coiled to prop itself up. Black-tipped ears bristled upward in a manner more reminiscent of birds. Kakashi could have sworn even the mitsudomoe tattoo on its side wriggled. 

"This is ridiculous! You're wasting time – " 

But more urgent to Kakashi was Shizune's gasp, and the unmistakable sounds of footsteps. Heavy footfalls, belonging to an adult. Before he could do anything a yellow and purple blur streaked right past his eye, even as the door opened and Namikaze-sensei stepped in. "Everything okay?" he said, oblivious to – an empty room definitely devoid of pipe-foxes. 

"Yes, sir!" Shizune said innocently. Maybe a little too innocently, but Kakashi suspected she was the kind of girl who was the last to be suspected of anything illicit. 

Sensei strode over to an open window by Kakashi's side – one he had certainly not opened himself. Stupid, Kakashi thought, as Sensei looked out of it. "It's a bit hot, isn't it?" Minato merely said with a smile, "Well, don't take too long. Children your age should enjoy this kind of weather whenever you can." 

So ordered, Kakashi and Shizune finished the last of the chores quickly. The window was closed. Through a furtive glance and an equally furtive nod Kakashi agreed to follow Shizune. He was curious despite himself; it was only for the sake of his curiosity. She led him into a public park on the edge of the known universe, that is, East Shinjuku. It was deserted, but still Shizune ducked behind the pyramid of empty pipes at the end – the other end was protected from view by a wall. And beyond the wall, a house he recognised as The Haunted House of East Shinjuku. 

"You know," he said, making her jump a little, "if you're going to murder me, this is such a cliche." 

Shizune spluttered, "W-what? I'm not going to – no one is murdering anyone!" 

A chuckle, feminine and older, and just like that a yellow bipedal fox materialised next to Shizune. Most striking was the purple diamond on its forehead. In its (her?) hand (paw?) was Kakashi's pest, tied in a loose knot and spitting mad. Quite literally so. "My advise, boy? Get a leash. Or better yet, a steel chain." 


	2. remember me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shizune's uncle Dan left her an unusual inheritance.
> 
> Takes place a short time before the first chapter.

"Hey, what's this?" Anko said, pointing at the picture taped above Shizune's desk, the standout decoration in her sparse bedroom. It was a picture, if one was inclined to be generous, a smear of the yellow crayon with vague designs for two long ears and an even longer tail. In the middle of the blob was a purple diamond. 

Shizune flushed with embarrassment. "Oh, my mother said I drew it for my uncle." 

"Oh. He won't happen to be the guy in the picture back there…?" Anko made a vague gesture at the family altar, where Uncle Dan's picture stood among Shizune's grandparents. 

Sometimes Shizune forgot just how perceptive Anko could be, but she supposed the other girl tried her best to forget it, too. "Yeah. We haven't seen him in a while, but that's pretty normal." She shrugged. Shizune's father had been missing even before she was born, and then her Uncle Dan had been only intermittently present in her childhood. Overall Shizune didn't blame her mother for giving up on men entirely. "A-Anyway, we should get started on Namikaze-sensei's homework." 

Anko groused, but she could tell the other girl was glad for the change of topic, too. And the homework did need doing. And Namikaze-sensei, while a perfectly nice person, couldn't quite get Anko interested in his class. So it fell to Shizune. 

Barely half an hour later, when Anko begged for a study break, Shizune realised the teacher couldn't shoulder all the blame. 

"We'll have plenty of time," Anko said as she pulled out a deck of cards from her bag. "And I promised to show you this." 

One deck turned into an entire folder of cards that covered the table and their homework entirely. Shizune recognised the figures on the cards as the ever popular Digimon – what children their age hadn't had their ears talked off by their peers with it? Anko introduced the cards, and then the rules, and without prompting she began composing a deck for Shizune to try. 

"What about this one?" Shizune said, picking up a blue card. But for the logo of a pixellated dinosaur on one side, it was blank. 

"Huh, never knew I had that. Here, see what this says." 

She was handed a device not larger than her fist. Shizune supposed she was meant to slide the card over the slot on one side, so she did. The device's screen lit up, but nothing else came. 

"Aw, a dud? Whatever, let's just use this. Come on!" 

One round of Anko's patient coaching, Shizune concluded that Digimon wasn't for her. In turn she managed to coax Anko to finish the rest of the homework so that it was done by the time Shizune's mother came home from work. By bedtime, she had already forgotten about the blue card. 

Shizune turned off the lights. For a second it was the dark outline of her room, then the fog materialised, and she felt as though she was standing on nothing, surrounded by nothing. But as though she didn't have enough to panic yet, she wasn't alone. The shadows closing in on her couldn't be humans. Humans didn't have horns or that many limbs. 

A strangled cry escape her lips, and a much louder one where someone spoke to her from behind. "You look a bit lost." 

It was a ladybug. A ladybug whose eyes were larger than Shizune's fist, and radius greater than her torso. It buzzed softly like an electric fan bobbing up and down to inspect her. 

"I've never seen anything like you," muttered the robotic insect to itself. "Could it be… yes, you must be…" 

Shizune came to herself and flinched away from its probing metal claw just in time. But it only genially said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." 

Her mother had taught her to be polite… but to suspicious strangers, none too polite. "What are you?" Shizune stammered. 

"Why, you are a human, a Chosen Child to be exact. And this meeting must be fate, and if so, I must be your partner." 

Before Shizune could begin to wrap her head around its answer, a feminine bellow came, "The hell you are," and the insect's buzz piqued for a moment, as though unnerved. The newcomer radiated power out of its towering height, and Shizune was reminded that foxes were carnivorous. A giant, humanoid fox didn't ease that image. 

The insect said, "And you are… That diamond… Yes, you'd be that Renamon… _You_ would be interested in another human… Will you replace your dead Tamer with her, I wonder?" 

Or so Shizune imagined it was saying, for two things happened almost simultaneously: the ladybug was sent flying; Shizune was whisked away, bounding toward where the fog ended. It was her room, Shizune realised with a jolt. 

The fox set her down gently. Shizune thought it was about to leave, and blurted, "W-wait! Uh, thank you!" 

It said nothing, its attention seemingly having been caught by the drawing on the wall. A memory finally clicked into place. "We've met before," Shizune said slowly. "You were with my uncle. But you were smaller then." She pointed at the drawing, at the distinctive mark on its forehead. "My uncle called you his partner, said he trusted you with his life." 

The fox flinched. Its fur stood on edge. Like an animal about to bolt, Shizune thought disappointedly, up until a roar sounded. Shizune didn't even see what had been rushing to get to her, only that it disintegrated under the fox's barrage of energy. Then she heard it, rumbling and growling, barely comprehensible noise that nonetheless got its meaning across: they wanted her. 

"What's going on?" she said to the fox. "What are they talking about?" 

It wrestled down what looked like a devil in video games, then punted it away before answering. "Through a bond with a Tamer, a Digimon can grow to become much stronger than it would naturally. Right now, that's you." 

"B-but I didn't do – " The blue card. Anko's toy, which she had lent to her and was currently glowing on her table. But before she could rue her fate, she was suddenly seized – and just as suddenly released, as the fox wrestled it down, and with a vicious burst the oni burst into dust. Shizune felt her heart stop. There was no mistaking it as anything other than murder. 

"Stop! Please stop this!" she pleaded, but the fox only shook its head. 

"They're going to keep coming for you, now that they've gotten a whiff. Unless…" 

"Unless what?" 

"Unless nothing," it snapped. "I will not drag you into this world." 

"But you said it yourself – they wouldn't stop coming unless… unless I am bound to one of you. Is that it?" 

Throughout this surreal night, there was nothing more human than the slump of the fox's shoulders. Whatever doubts Shizune had harboured about its connection to her uncle perished then. 

"A Tamer would be able to use her device to close the leak between worlds. But, Shizune – this is as far as you'll go, understand?" 

Shizune picked up Anko's toy. It morphed in her hand, gaining a purple band on its face. She took it as a confirmation. Looking up at the fox, Shizune smiled weakly. "See? You still remember my name."

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [tumblr](https://jaycrowind.tumblr.com/) for those more tumblr-inclined.


End file.
